Govt to grant concessions to poultry industry

10th May, 2006: ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN - The government has agreed to grant a number of concessions to the poultry industry to revive it.

The concessions include an interest-free loan facility of Rs 10 million for small poultry farmers. Under an incentive package, import duties would also be ended on several items including organic material for poultry feed preparation and medicines.

The Central Board of Revenue (CBR), however, has turned down the industryís demand for income tax exemption for five years, saying it was against the prevalent tax regime. Industry representatives told a meeting of the Federal Poultry Board on Tuesday that they had suffered a loss of Rs 9 billion after the bird fluís resurgence in February.